Touch-screen computing devices have been introduced into general use only in the last few years, and yet have already become accepted and embraced by the general public to such an extent that one may wonder why such touch-screen computing devices weren't previously available. As is generally known, such a touch-screen computing device (“touch device”) typically encompasses all required computing functionality necessary to acquire digital content from a remote source, typically by way of a wireless broadband connection or the like, and to render the acquired content, or else to render content already present in a computing memory or the like on the touch device. As should be appreciated, such rendering may include displaying fixed or moving images on a display and/or producing audio on attached speakers or earphones, among other things.
Typically, the touch device is especially light-weight and portable, perhaps weighing on the order of a pound or so, and is on the order of a third of an inch in thickness, if that. In any case, one hallmark of such a touch device is that most if not all inputs thereinto are performed by way of touch-based gestures imparted directly onto and sensed by the display of the touch device (“touch display”). Typically, performing such an input by touch-based gesture involves touching with a finger or the like at a particular area on the touch display in order to actuate a function associated with the particular area. Thus, if the particular area is a displayed selection button, touching the touch display at the displayed selection button actuates same. Likewise, if the particular area is a section of a displayed map, double-tapping the touch display at the section of the displayed map may zoom in on the section of the map. Currently, one especially popular touch device is the iPad touch device developed and marketed by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., although other touch devices also exist.
Using touch-based gestures directly on a touch display to input commands into a touch device has been found to be highly intuitive. In fact most users of such touch devices do not even require reference to a user manual or the like in order to operate same. Nevertheless, the use of such touch-based gestures directly on a touch display to input commands presents some challenges to the user, particularly where the input command is intended to be precisely located, or where the input command includes a textual element, among other things.
With regard to the former, it is to be appreciated that a touch-based gesture applied directly by the tip of a finger nevertheless involves contact over a relatively large extent between the finger and the touch display, perhaps on the order of a square inch or so, and interpreting such contact can be problematic if the intent of the contact is ambiguous. Put simply, using a finger on a touch display is not nearly as accurate as moving a cursor icon or the like on the touch display by way of a mouse or the like. With regard to the latter, it is to be appreciated that typing text on a touch display by way of a displayed touch-screen keyboard or the like does not provide the tactile feedback obtained from a hardware keyboard. As a result, typing text on a touch device can be perceived as awkward, and is thus best minimized or avoided when possible. Accordingly, some challenges posed by graphical user interface (GUI) design on a touch device include minimizing the use of a touch-screen keyboard displayed thereon, and increasing the surface area of touchable/selectable elements such that a user can touch and select items with more accuracy and less ambiguity.
Searching on a displayed map on the touch display of a touch device can in particular be a trying experience. In particular, map-based searching is an area sorely in need of new principles for touch-screen graphical user interface design. Reasons are many and varied and include the following, among others. For one thing, inputting parameters for touch-screen map-based searching typically still requires the use of traditional “text input” boxes, which may be generated according to known HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) forms. Thus, a user is likely required to use the aforementioned touch-screen keyboard on the touch display to enter search criteria for both location-based and descriptive criteria. Furthermore, if a user wants to refine a search by entering additional descriptive criteria or re-phrased descriptive criteria, additional usage of the touch-screen keyboard ensues.
For another thing, touch-screen mapping interfaces typically do not use screen ‘real estate’ efficiently. Put simply, screen area or ‘real estate’ is a valuable commodity and yet is oftentimes squandered, especially when a displayed map uses most of the available screen area on a touch display, leaving little if any other room on the touch display for entering search criteria, textually or otherwise, other than rudimentary navigation inputs such as zooming and panning. Ideally, search criteria for mapping should be inputted directly onto the map when possible by appropriate gestures or the like, and the map GUI should effectuate such direct map inputs.
For still another thing, it is to be appreciated that a touch device typically includes a mobile device browser with relatively limited storage and wireless bandwidth transfer capabilities, such that the amount of data that can be delivered in response to any web-based request is likewise relatively limited. Thus, if the geographic area queried by map-based searching is relatively large, perhaps on the order of multiple cities, and/or if the results returned by such map-based searching is relatively large, perhaps on the order of thousands or so, then the size of the returned results may be considered excessive in terms of bandwidth and ability to be consumed in a reasonable amount of time.
Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method for providing enhanced web-based mapping services and functions on a touch-screen computing device or the like. In particular, a need exists for such a system and method where mapping services and functions are performed in a manner more suitable to touch-based inputting functionality inherent in such a touch-screen computing device or the like. Further, a need exists for such a system and method where map searching and other mapping chores are performed with the touch-screen computing device in a more organic and intuitive manner.